Equipment for collecting workpieces



March 1, 1960 cs. BERSA 2,926,767

r EQUIPMENT FOR COLLECTING WORKPIECES Filed Jan. 18, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet1 f N I 3 II a 'Q/ I i-gD .g cs F@ a P a L; UN 0.:

men-Z01 March 1, 1960 RsA 2,926,767

EQUIPMENT FOR COLLECTING WORKPIECES Filed Jan. 18, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2a cooling bed or the like. The

- said workpieces to that the factors which determine pieces which areidentical intermittent cutting operations.

2,926,767 EQUIPMENT FOR COLLECTING WORKPIECES Guido Bersa, Kapfenberg,Steiermark, Austria, assignor to Gebr. Bohler & Co. Aktiengesellschaft,Vienna, Austria ApplicationJanuary 18, 1957, Serial No. 634,878 Claimspriority, application Austria January 23,1956

5 Claims. (Cl. 193-38) This invention relates to equipment forcollectingworkpieces, more particularly. for piling such workpieces withaligned ends in a receiver, which may consist of a trough, workpieces tobe collected are discharged by feeding means at a predetermined velocityin a predetermined direction and in a predetermined position. Anupwardly facing, rigid slideway is provided, the longitudinal axis ofwhich extends in said predetermined direction and which has aninclination transverse to said longitudinal axis. This slideway isarranged slidingly to receive said workpieces directly from said feedingmeans in a zone which is spaced. above the lower side edge of theslideway and adjacent to one end of: the slideway. The slideway isadapted to progressively reduce the velocityofthe workpieces in thepredetermined direction on the slideway by friction and the inclinationof. theslideway is sufficient to cause reach of move laterally from saidslideway across a predetermined portion of the lowerside edge thereofwhen the workpieces are allowed -to movefreely on the slideway. .It isapparent that the movement of the workpieces on the slideway will besubstantially in accordance with a parabolic curve. When the workpieces:consist, for example, of :bars discharged by the. roller tablein theaxial direction ofrthe bars, the latter will not change their positionwhile on the. slideway.

The slideway is preferably of sufiicient length to reduce the velocityof the workpiecesinsaid predetermined. direction substantially to zeroon said slideway. Inv this. case the. inclination of the slideway ispreferably such asto cause each of said workpieces toreach the loweredge of the slideway when the velocity of theworkpiece in saidpredetermined direction has. been reduced substantially to zero. In thiscasethe equipment will enable the, piling up'even of deformable, forexample, hot bars beside the slideway without deformation of the bars.

To ensure that all workpieces, are piled up with their ends exactlyaligned it is essential, or at least desirable, the movement of theworkpiece on the slideway be maintained constant for all workpieceshandled in a run. These factors include:

(a) The direction in which the workpieces are moving when theyarereceived by the slideway;

(b) The velocity of the workpieces in said direction when they arereceived by the slideway;

flush with each other, so thatadditionsl devices are re- '(c)' Thepositionof the workpiece at the time at which it. is received by theslideway;

(d) The weight. of the workpiece; '(e) Thescoeflicient of frictionbetween those portions 0f the workpiece. which contact the slideway. andthe latter; V t

'(f) The size and shape of the surface portions of the workpiecewhichcontacttheslideway. V p

In this specification and the appended claims, the term fidenticalworkpieces has been used to'describe workwith respect to the factors d,e, and f above.

fThe slideway may also be used as. a cutting table for For this purposethe in- 2,926,757 Patented Mar. 1, 1960 clination of the slideway mustbe suilicient to enable the workpieces, which are temporarily held inposition on the slideway during the cutting operation, to start movingdown the slideway as soon inclination is usually greater than theoptimum inclination of the slideway when used only for collectingoperations.

Roller-tables have become known for an automatic collection of theworkpieces. They have to be lifted on one side and to be furnished withrolls, which have to be turned into transversal direction. 7

Equipments for piling up tubes and bars have become known, furnishedwith a roller-gear-bed, along which the workpieces are gliding. As soonas they reach the end of that roller-gear-bed they are forced aside byloweringledges and made to roll down to the pile along a slope. Anotherequipment for periodical ejection of the continuously arrivingrolling-bars provided a pressuremedium, eg. columns of air or water forejection. In this equipment, however, the workpieces are not arrangedquired,-which can be dispensed if an equipment as described by theinvention is used.

The invention will be explained hereinafter with reference toillustrative embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:

Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, are a side elevation and a top plan viewshowing collecting'equipment according to the invention, i

Figs. 3a and 3!) are sectional views taken on lines AB and C-D,respectively, of Fig. 1. Fig. 31) also shows a means for adjusting theslideway to the desired inclination, I

Fig. 4 is a top plan view showing another embodiment of the inventio 5na side elevation showing the collecting equipment of Fig. 4 viewed inthe direction indicated at E in Fig. 4, and

Fig. 5b is a sectional view taken on line F-G of Fig. 4.

With reference to Figs. 1 to 3, rolled barsa, which have been cut tolength, are discharged by the roller table c, exactly in the axialdirection of the bars and at a predetermined velocity in said direction.The longitudinal axis of the upwardly facing, rigid slideway b extendsin the axial direction of the bars a. This slideway b has an inclinationtransverse to its longitudinal direction and is arranged slidingly toreceive the bars a from the roller table c adjacent to the end of theslideway which is near the roller table in a zone which isspaced fromthe lower side edge of the slideway. In the position of the slidewayindicated with solid lines in Fig. 3 this lower side edge is the sideedge (1' identified in Fig. 2. The slideway b is adapted progressivelyto reduce the velocity of the bars a in their axial direction and theinclination of the slideway is sufficient to cause the bars a to movelaterally from the slideway across a predetermined portion of the lowerside edge at thereof when the bars a are allowed to move freely on theslideway.

A receiver, such as the trough e, is arranged beside and below thispredetermined portion of the lower side edge a" of the slideway b andreceives the bars moving across this side edge.

For collecting deformable workpieces, e.g., hot bars a, the length ofthe slideway b is such that it reduces the velocity of the harsh in theaxial direction thereof substantially to zero while the bars are on theslideway and the inclination of the slideway is such that when the barsare allowed to move freely on the slideway they will reachthe lower edgea" of the slideway when their velocity in their axial direction has justbeen reduced substantially to zero. In this case the bars a will dropinto the trough e substantially without any velocity in their axialdirec as they are released. This tion. If the hot bars a were stillmoving in their axial direction while dropping into the trough e, theywould be likely to strike against a wall of the trough e or fall intothe same with one end ahead of the other; in both cases the hot barswould be liable to be deformed.

As viewed in Fig. 3 the slideway b may be transversely inclinedselectively toward the left or to the right. The latter position isindicated with dotted lines in Fig. 3. When the equipment is used forcollecting bars a cut from successive ingots, all bars cut from oneingot may be collected, for example, in the trough 2'. During the shortperiod between the discharge of the last bar of this ingot and the firstbar of the next ingot the slideway b can be tilted over to the otherside to discharge all bars from this second ingot across the side edgewhich is now the lower side edge, into the trough e ar' ranged oppositeto the trough e. In the meantime, the trough e can be emptied.

Any suitable means may be utilized to adjust the slideway b to thedesired inclination. An example of such means, which does not form partof the invention, is particularly shown in Fig. 3b. An arm p dependsfrom the underside of the slideway member b and carries pins q which arereceived by the bearing eyes s of a push rod t, which is connected by aself-locking transmission 11 to a reversible electric motor v, theenergization of which will cause the slideway member b to be adjusted tothe desired inclination. The self-locking transmission u will hold theslideway member b in its adjusted position when the motor v isdeenergized.

The point where the bars a move across the side edge d or a" of theslideway b can be varied and precisely adjusted by slight changes in theinclination of the slideway b. To enable this adjustment of itsinclination, the slideway b is carried by a supporting structure, whichcomprises three semicircular members 1 rigid with the slideway b anddisposed on the underside thereof. The underside of each of thesemembers 1 is shaped in accordance with an arc of a circle extending in avertical plane which is at right angles to the longitudinal axis of theslideway b. The underside of each of these members 1 is engaged bylaterally spaced rollers g, the axes of which are parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the slideway b. Withthe aid of an appropriate drivethe transverse inclination of the slideway b can thus be adjustedthroughout a range which includes an intermediate position in which theslideway b has no transverse inclination with respect to itslongitudinal axis.

It is apparent from Figs. 4 and 5a and 5b that the equipment describedmay also be used as a cutting table. The slideway b is arrangedslidingly to receive the workpiece across that end of the slideway whichis near the roller table c. For use of the slideway as a cutting table,an axial stop means consisting of an adjustable pivoted stop i (Fig. 5b)is moved into the path of the workpiece so as to be engagcable by thelatter to limit the movement thereof in its axial direction before theworkpiece has been entirely received by the slideway b. in this case theworkpiece may consist of a continuous ingot. Furthermore, a pivoted stopbar 11 is moved into the path of the workpiece to be engageable by thesame to limit the movement of the workpiece in the direction of theinclination of the slideway b when the workpiece has en gaged the stopi. When the workpiece has engaged the stops it and i it is cut off bythe shears 1 between the roller table 0 and the slideway b. Then thestop bar h is lifted for a short time. In this case the slideway b isset to an inclination sufficient to cause the cut-cit bar to move fromstandstill across the lower side edge of the slideway b and fall intothe trough k disposed below and beside said side edge when the stop barIt has been lifted out of the path of the workpiece. The entireoperation can be repeated after the stop bar It has been moved'back intothe path of the workpiece.

Any suitable means may be utilized to remove the stop bar h out of thepath of the workpieces. An example of such means, which does not formpart of the invention, is shown inFig. 5b and comprises a reciprocablemotor r connected by a linkage x to the stop bar h and operable to liftand lower the bar from and to the slideway b.

The equipment according to the invention requires only a small space andenables the piling of bars, billets and the like, which are supplied inrapid succession after they have been cut to equal lengths, e.g., withrotary shears moving with the bar, as well as the collecting of rolledbars which have been cut oil on the slideway itself.

I claim:

1. Equipment for collecting workpieces, which comprises feeding meansfor discharging workpieces along a predetermined straight path, anupwardly facing, rigid slideway the longitudinal axis of which extendsin the direction of said path and which is unmovable in the direction ofsaid path and arranged to receive said workpieces adjacent to one end ofsaid slideway to permit them to move on said slideway in the directionof said path with sliding friction, and a supporting structure carryingsaid slideway with freedom of pivotal movement about an axis which isparallel to said longitudinal axis to a position in which said slidewayhas an inclination transverse to said longitudinal axis to cause saidworkpieces to move laterally from said slideway when said workpieces areallowed to move freely on said slideway.

2. Equipment as set forth in claim 1, in which said feeding means arearranged to discharge substantially identical workpieces at apredetermined velocity along said path to said slideway and saidslideway is of willcient length to reduce the velocity of saidworkpieces in the-direction of said path substantially to-zero only bythe sliding friction of said workpieces on said slideway when saidworkpieces are allowed to move freely on said slideway and theinclination of said slideway is such as to cause said workpieces to movelaterally from said slideway after their velocity in the direction ofsaid path has thus been reduced substantially to zero.

3. Equipment as set forth in claim 1, which comprises lateral stop meansremovably mounted in :the path of said workpieces on said slideway whenthe same has said inclination, said lateral stop means being engageableby each of said workpieces to limit the lateral movement thereof on saidslideway.

4. Equipment as set forth in claim 3, which comprises axial stop meansremovably mounted in the path of said workpieces and engageable by eachof said workpieces to limit the movement thereof in the direction ofsaid longitudinal axis of said slideway, and in which said lateral stopmeans is engageable by each of said workpieces'to limit the movementthereof in the direction of said inclination when said workpiece hasengaged said axial stop means.

5. Equipment as set forth in claim 4, in which said axial stop means isremovably mounted in the path of said workpieces to be en-gageable byeach of said workpieces to limit the movement thereof in the directionof said longitudinal axis of said slideway before the work: piece hasbeen entirely received by said slideway, and which comprises cuttingmeans disposed between said feeding means and said slideway adjacent tothe path of said workpieces and operable to out each of said work pieceswhen the same engages said axial and lateral stop means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,587,069 Edwards June 1, 1926 2,217,075 OMalley Oct. 8, 1940 2,518,171Oxley et a1. Aug. 8, 1950 2,741,356 Axton Apr. 10, 1956

